


The Field Trip

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 04:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15355758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: Another "field-trip to Stark Tower" story.When armed men attack Stark Tower whilst Peter's class is on a field trip, it is down to Peter (not Spider-Man, Peter), to try and save the day.





	The Field Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Fauconnier for the prompt for this story, and for helping me develop the plot.
> 
> This story is set sometime after Spider-Man: Homecoming (so ignores Infinity War). I've tried to follow canon (but assume Tony Stark still owns/uses Stark Tower, and he and Peter have got closer after the events of Homecoming.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's read this and left comments and kudos! It's just hit 500 kudos (yey!) and is my most successful fic so far.

The first time the field trip was mentioned, Peter wasn't listening. In fact, he was fast asleep. He'd been doing quite well recently for not falling asleep in class, just about managing to get enough sleep, but the previous night's patrol had been a busy one, and he hadn't got in until the (not even that) early hours of the morning. So he totally missed the teacher introducing the trip, and whatever Flash's presumably not funny joke at his expense had been. He'd even slept through Flash loudly shouting "Oi! Penis!" at him (which perhaps at least suggested that his subconscious wasn't recognising Flash's nickname for him as his name, which was probably a good thing). However, the whole class, including the teacher, were now staring at him as Ned tried to subtly elbow him awake. Ned was successful with the waking part, but definitely not the subtlety. Peter nearly leapt out of his chair (but not onto the ceiling, thank Odin).

"Mr Parker, nice of you to join us," the teacher said rather loudly (maybe trying to make sure Peter stayed awake), "I was just telling the class about a field trip we have coming up to Stark Tower."

"Stark Tower!?"

"Yes. According to Mr Thompson, you're already familiar with the building…"

"I was saying that he definitely isn't familiar with the building, because he's lying about his internship…" Flash interrupted, to be interrupted back by the teacher.

"Well, whether you are already familiar with the building or not, the trip should be an interesting educational experience, provided you actually manage to stay awake for it…" he told Peter, giving him a disapproving stare. "I'm not going to repeat myself, but all the information you need should be on your permission slip."

 

Peter wasn't sure how he felt about the trip to Stark Tower. A few years ago, he would have been bursting with excitement, but now he was nervous. Nervous that Flash would use it as an opportunity to show him up, and try and prove his internship was made up. That was a problem. His internship wasn't fictional, but it wasn't exactly what he told everyone either. In truth, it was a cover for him being Spider-Man. But that was the thing; he didn't actually spend much time at the tower doing typically intern-y things, he spent the time he was "interning" out on the streets of New York, swinging around in a brightly coloured suit fighting criminals and helping people. He had been to the tower, but to be honest, the part he'd spent the most time in was the med bay, getting patched up on the occasions Karen (his suit's A.I.) insisted that he couldn't just leave it to his advanced healing abilities. He'd barely been in the main Stark Industries part of the tower at all; when he met Mr Stark, they'd go up to his private penthouse, or to his lab.

That was another problem. Mr Stark. Should he tell him about the trip? Would he already know? It was often very hard to predict what Mr Stark would or wouldn't know, because he often gave the impression of being disinterested, but at times could appear omniscient, with his A.I.s finding out anything he wanted to know. Peter was scared that Mr Stark might try embarrass him on the field trip, but he was also kind of nervous that he would ignore him altogether, not even realising the trip was happening. Peter didn't want to mention the trip to him, not unless it came up, anyway. He didn't want to appear needy, like he was seeking Mr Stark's attention.

 

"So, are you excited!?" Ned's voice interrupted Peter's thoughts. He looked up from where he'd been staring at his sandwich, pulling bits of the crust off.

"What?"

"The Stark Tower trip! It sounds awesome! I know you've already been, but still, it'll be really cool. I wonder whether we'll see any Avengers there?"

"Probably not. Mr Stark moved most of the Avengers stuff over to the compound instead. Well, you know, with some disruption…" They both paused to remember the events the night of Homecoming. "But anyway, it's not like there's even many Avengers around at the moment. So I doubt they'll just be hanging around the tower, waiting to meet some school kids." Ned looked disappointed at that.

"Could you not ask Mr Stark…?"

"No!" Peter exclaimed, slightly too loudly. He tried to lower his voice a bit. "No, I mean, I can't just ask for them to show up for my field trip. They'll be busy. And I don't want them reminding that I'm just a kid…" Peter had gone quite red, just thinking about it. His relationship with Mr Stark was improving; Tony was trying to be supportive of the kid without overstepping his mark, and Peter was trying to follow his rules. They were starting to communicate a bit better now, sometimes working together on improvements for the spider-suit, but it could still feel a bit awkward between them. Peter could tell that Tony still thought of him as "just a kid" (though he was trying to not antagonise Peter by babying him).

"Oh, right. But anyway, it'll still be a really cool trip!" Ned added, trying to distract from the slightly downer moment.

* * *

Aunt May hadn't been too keen when Peter first dropped the subject of the trip over dinner. She was concerned that it could compromise his secret identity as Spider-Man.

"Are you sure going is a good idea?"

"I can't not go! That would just look suspicious, and fuel Fla… fuel people saying I'm lying about the internship. Plus it could affect my grade."

"Maybe I should talk to Tony about it still, just to be sure…"

"No! Don't talk to Mr Stark about it! It'll be really embarrassing!" That at least picked up May's mood a bit, smirking at seeing her nephew's embarrassment.

"You don't want him to know that you're visiting his tower? You worried that he'll do something to embarrass you, or embarrassed for him to know that you're off and are going to fanboy over all his inventions?" When Peter didn't reply, she took that to mean both.

* * *

 

Peter did see Tony once in the time preceding the trip, but didn't mention anything to him about it. He was already kind of embarrassed. He'd managed to cut all his leg open on a piece of sticking-out metal he hadn't noticed when landing in a dark alley. Luckily he had managed to make his way to the tower himself, rather than having to call for a rescue (which would have been super embarrassing), but still had to web-sling his way into the med bay to get stitches. Karen had insisted on that, saying that she would call Mr Stark if Peter didn't go himself.

"Snitches get stitches, Karen," Peter muttered darkly as he made his way across town, swinging between buildings.

"No, wannabe superheroes who don't pay attention to what they're doing and cut their legs open get stitches."

 

Just as the medic was finishing up the stitches, Mr Stark poked his head around the door. Clearly FRIDAY had informed him of Peter's presence in the med bay. He didn't look concerned, more mildly amused, probably enjoying the opportunity to mildly embarrass Peter, and potentially give him some kind of condescending lecture.

"So… how's it going?" Tony asked, in a congenial tone.

"Oh, yeah, it's going great thanks," Peter replied, slightly sarcastically. "How's things with you?"

"Oh, you know, peachy." He paused. "I hope you've had your tetanus boosters, I imagine random bits of metal in alleyways are highly unsanitary. I would recommend you maybe try and avoid catching yourself on them in future," he added (not) helpfully, before leaving and shutting the door again. Peter sat, slightly irritated (first that Mr Stark was making fun of him, but also because he'd clearly been watching the footage from his suit. Peter really wasn't the biggest fan of the "baby monitor protocol".

* * *

Peter had to admit, when he saw there was a minor disaster going on at the other side of the country on the day of the trip, he was slightly pleased. Not because of the disaster, of course that was bad, but because the (few remaining) Avengers were all there dealing with it, including Iron Man, so Mr Stark wouldn't be around the tower and wouldn't have the opportunity to embarrass him, or see Peter get embarrassed in front of him. Going by Flash's comments, which started the second Peter stepped onto the bus, he was going to be putting every effort into trying to make a fool of Peter (or _Penis,_ as he continued to refer to him as).

"I'm surprised you showed up, _Penis,_ because we all know how you like to go AWOL on trips, and you know we're all about to find out just how fake your " _internship_ " is!"

Peter ignored him, and continued to chat with Ned about the Avengers' current mission.

"Do you think they'll ask for _Spiderman's_ help?" Ned asked in a whisper.

"I doubt it. They haven't done so far," Peter answered. Once he would have sounded bitter about that, but he'd made the decision to turn down the Avengers slot. If the disaster was happening in New York, it would be another story, and he'd have probably showed up whether the Avengers invited him or not, but this was the other side of the country. He could hardly make his own way there. The Avengers would have it handled. If they did ask for his help, he'd probably jump at the chance, but until then, he'd stay out of it. Well, except for constantly looking for updates on the situation on the internet.

"Do you have the suit?" Ned asked, "You know, just in case?"

"No." Peter felt a little bit worried about that. He didn't like being without his suit, but he'd made the decision to leave it at home this morning (before he'd heard about the Avengers' mission). He guessed there might well be security searches on entering Stark Tower, and being found with the spider-suit would be a great way to leak his secret identity. He didn't usually have to go through security (because more often than not he didn't enter via the ground floor, and when he did, FRIDAY would let him straight up), but when he was with a tour group, he probably would have to.

* * *

They did have to go through security, including bag scans, which meant the suit would likely have been discovered (although not necessarily, considering the fact FRIDAY ran the whole building, and knew about Peter and his suit, so might well have covered for him and bypassed the security alert the suit would have generated). Peter's "internship" credentials did pop up on screen though when he went through. Unfortunately Flash wasn't paying attention at the time, but at least a couple of people saw, and would know that Peter hadn't been making it up.

A rather enthusiastic woman from public relations met them, and started the tour, chatting animatedly about the building and the history of Stark Industries. Peter already knew pretty much everything she was saying, but still listened with interest. She took them first round a little display with pictures from across the years, that was clearly there for the purpose of showing to tour groups. Peter examined a photo of a much younger looking Mr Stark standing with his father. Though there was quite a few photos of both men amongst the collection, this was the only one with the father and son together. Tony didn't talk about his father much, but Peter knew they hadn't exactly got along.

Generic introduction over with, they moved on into the part of the tower where work actually got done. A lot of Stark Industries operations ran from elsewhere, but there was a couple of floors of office workers, working away at their desks. They paid little attention to the group of school children passing by them.

"So, is this where you work, Parker?" Flash asked, still with a fair bit of venom, but a noticeable lack of "Penis" (perhaps he was being cautious in case Peter did actually work there), "Should I ask your colleagues if they know you?"

"Erm… no… I work on a different floor," Peter stuttered, hoping Flash wouldn't push for specifics.

"Yeah, sure," Flash replied sarcastically, "Let us know when we get there!"

* * *

"Are any of the Avengers here?" one of the students asked the guide as they continued to walk round, having gone up a few floors now, which so far were all pretty same-y and the novelty was starting to wear off.

"No. The Avengers are now based outside the city, so most of them don't come to the tower anymore," their guide told them.

"Most of them are hiding from the government somewhere…" another student whispered.

"However, Mr Stark sometimes calls in, and we get the occasional visit from Spider-Man," the guide continued.

"Are they here today?"

"You may have seen on the news this morning that Iron Man and the other Avengers are in action over by the other coast. But Spider-Man isn't there, so you never know…" she added in a tone trying to build up excitement.

"Parker, you're _"friends with Spider-Man",_ did he happen to tell you whether he was going to drop in?" Flash asked.

"Funnily enough, I think he said he was busy today," Peter replied sarcastically.

* * *

They'd just got out of the lift at the highest floor they were visiting on the tour. The floors above had been part of the Avengers' base, when the Avengers were still based there. They were now mostly empty, but still closed off to the public (and to anyone who didn't have sufficient security clearance, which was the majority of the employees of Stark Industries). This floor had been turned into an exhibit about the Avengers. Unfortunately, any actual Avengers memorabilia had taken in the move, alongside the rest of the Avengers' things, so it was just pictures and text, but it was still quite interesting. Peter might have taken a nosy at it before on previous visits to the tower, had he known it was there. Mr Stark had never mentioned it (but then again, the Avengers was a bit of a sore subject, particularly its former members).

The tour guide was chatting animatedly about the Avengers, pointing at the walls of photos, when suddenly the lights went down.

"Stay calm everybody," the guide instructed, in a false-cheery voice, "it's just a power cut. I'm sure the lights will be back up in a minute."

But Peter wasn't calm. His spider-sense was practically screaming. He knew the building was powered by its own arc reactor (the display on the ground floor had mentioned it, not that he didn't know already). It shouldn't have power cuts. He listened and thought he could hear the sound of gunfire coming from probably the ground floor, many floors below them. The calm looks on his classmates' faces indicated that he was the only one that could hear it (thanks, no doubt, to his enhanced senses).

Faint back-up lights came on. FRIDAY's voice came through overhead speakers.

"Please remain calm, and in your current location, and await further instruction," she announced, sounding very robotic, spouting off an automated protocol, with far less personality than Peter was used to.

"Yes, please wait here," the guide added, fear cracking through her voice slightly, "I'm just going to try and find out what's going on."

"You heard FRIDAY," Peter interrupted, "I think we should all stick together." The guide seemed surprised by his interruption.

"Everything's going to be fine. I'm just going to try and get an update from downstairs, then I'll be right back."

Peter considered trying to stop her, but figured she wasn't going to listen. He watched carefully as the guide walked away, back towards the lifts. He was quite glad when he heard the lift fail to arrive for her; FRIDAY had shut them down. He heard what sounded like her trying to make a phone call, but it didn't seem to be going through.

"FRIDAY?" she asked nervously, clearly not used to trying to communicate with the A.I. "What's going on?"

"An incident is currently occurring. I am not authorised to give you further information. Please return to your group and await further instruction."

"Can you open the lift for me?"

"You are not authorised to use the lift at present. Please return to your group and await further instruction."

 

Looking somewhat abashed, the guide walked back over to the group.

"So there's a small incident occurring at present," she told the group, trying to sound confident and save face, "we just need to wait here for now, and hopefully it will be resolved soon."

Peter took out his phone. It registered no signal. That was strange, he always had signal in the tower. Presumably something was blocking phones (maybe FRIDAY, or maybe whoever was attacking the building). He was about to put it away, when he had a thought. FRIDAY always automatically connected to his phone when he was in the tower, forwarding his calls if he'd left his phone in another room. Just because he didn't have signal, didn't mean FRIDAY wasn't connected. He opened up a blank text message and started typing.

_Friday, what's going on?_

He left it on the screen for a minute, seeing if anything would happen.

 _Friday!!!???_ He added. Just when he was about to give up and delete the message, text appeared on his screen.

**There is an incident occurring on the ground floor**

_What's happening?_

_Come on Friday, tell me!_

**A group of men in tactical gear have stormed the building. They are trying to access the mainframe. I have initiated basic lock down procedures**

_Is anyone hurt?_

**Two security personnel have gun shot wounds. They should not be life-threatening, provided they receive prompt medical attention**

_Is there a way to get everyone out of the building?_

**I am directing staff away from the intruders. The intruders are advancing to the first floor. Once they do so, I may be able to lock down the ground floor, and allow all personnel there to be evacuated, including the casualties. I'm trying to seclude all employees on other floors**

_What do we do? What can I do?_

**You wait, Mr Parker. Stay where you are and await further instruction.**

 

Peter looked back away from his phone, to the group. They were starting to look a bit antsy.

"What's going on?" one girl asked, "should we evacuate?"

Before the guide had chance to answer, there was the sound of an explosion, and the floor shook slightly. It wasn't a loud explosion, but it was loud enough that Peter wasn't the only one that heard it. A considerable amount of screaming followed.

"What was that!?"

"We're all going to die!!!"

"What do we do!?"

 

 _Friday, what is happening!?_ Peter typed

**The intruders are advancing through the building. They are not happy that I am keeping them out of the mainframe. I believe they are trying to reach the central databanks.**

_Where are those?_

**The floor above you**

 

That meant the intruders were going to go straight past the group. The Avengers' half of the tower was separated from the lower floors. The main elevators only came up to this floor. There were separate private lifts that went into the Avengers' half, ones controlled by strict protocols. Only those authorised could use them. There was also an emergency staircase, that ran down from Mr Stark's penthouse at the top, down to this floor, where it could be accessed behind security doors. If the intruders wanted to advance beyond this floor, their best bet was to take the public stairs to this floor, then blast the doors and take the emergency stairs. Peter hoped that they didn't know that, but it seemed likely that they would continue to advance until they reached this floor anyway. Eventually they would get up here, and there was nowhere for the group to hide.

"We need to go up!" Peter announced, suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him. He figured the group's best chance was to go up to Mr Stark's penthouse. It had defensive facilities, and they could be evacuated via the roof if help came to rescue them.

"We can't go up further than this," the tour guide told him, "Above here is what was the Avengers' base, and it has restricted access. I won't be able to get FRIDAY to let us use the elevator."

 _"No, but I can,"_ Peter thought to himself. He began frantically typing.

 

_Friday, we need to get everyone to safety. Can you take them to Mr Stark's penthouse, and shut it down, so the intruders can't access it?_

**I could, if authorised**

_Can I authorise it?_

**Yes, you have the required security clearance**

_Then do it. Tell the group to get into the lift, take them up there, and keep them safe_

**Are you not going?**

_No. As soon as everyone else is in the lift, close it and take them up_

 

The ding of a lift opening distracted the group. They turned their heads towards the Avengers' private lift.

"Please proceed into the elevator," FRIDAY announced from above. Everyone looked around nervously, then started heading towards it. Peter tapped Ned on the shoulder as they walked.

"Make sure everyone stays together," he whispered to him.

"What!?" Ned whispered back. They'd nearly reached the lift now. Just as people started crowding in, Peter pretended to trip. Ned turned to help him up, but Peter subtly shook his head, gesturing towards the lift. Looking uncertain, Ned backed into the lift. As soon as he crossed the threshold (now the last person aside from Peter not already inside), the doors closed.

"Peter!" Ned called out, worriedly. The concern appeared on the faces of many of his other classmates too. But not Peter's. Peter steeled a look of determination onto his face. They were going to be safe. He was keeping them safe. He needed to stay down here to make sure that happened.

* * *

 

 "So, what do we do now FRIDAY?" Peter asked, out loud now he was on his own.

"I would advise that you join the others up in Mr Stark's penthouse," FRIDAY suggested.

"Next suggestion?" Peter dismissed, "What are the intruders doing? Are all the staff alright?"

"The intruders are now on the fifth floor, and quickly progressing upwards. I would estimate they will be with you within five minutes. The casualties on the ground floor have been successfully evacuated, and I am in the process of trying to get the other staff out. The ones not evacuated are still safe; they are hiding in the locations I suggested, and the intruders do not seem concerned with finding them at the moment."

"Good. About the staff I mean," Peter clarified, "But what do we do about the intruders? How do we stop them trying to storm the emergency stairs, and getting into the ex-Avengers' base?"

"Well…" FRIDAY started, apprehensively.

"What is it FRIDAY? Do you have a plan?"

"There is the _Burning Bridges protocol_ …"

"What is that?"

"It blocks up the bottom of the emergency stairs, and the Avengers' lift shaft, preventing it being accessed from below."

"Why didn't you suggest that before? Do that!"

"Well, it is very hard to reverse. It should only be done in emergencies. And you'll be stuck down here, with them."

"This is an emergency FRIDAY! Do it!"

 

There was a few seconds of silence, perhaps where FRIDAY was considering the command, then a loud rumbling.

" _Burning Bridges protocol_ successful."

"Good."

"The intruders are about to reach your floor. I would recommend relocating to the floor below, where there is more places you can hide, if you refuse to evacuate yet."

"Good plan, Fri."

"Go now!" FRIDAY announced, sounding slightly panicked.

 

Peter carefully opened the door to the stairwell, listening out. He could hear the loud clatter of many feet dashing up the stairs. Quietly as possible, he started making his way down. He was halfway to the next floor when his spidey-sense triggered. Some of the intruders had increased their pace, and were almost round the corner. He wouldn't have time to get through the doors to the next floor before they arrived. Panicked, he jumped up to the ceiling, and stuck himself in a corner, praying to whatever Gods were out there that the intruders wouldn't look up. He held his breath as they passed underneath him, a long parade of gunmen. As soon as the last one had passed, he silently dropped down and dashed down to the next floor. It wouldn't take the intruders long to discover that they couldn't get up any higher, and were unable to access the central databanks. Angry gun-wielding men would likely be charging back down the stairs any second, and Peter didn't want to meet them.

 

Peter crawled along the ceiling of the floor below (feeling on edge now, and even though he didn't have his spider-suit, he felt slightly more confident when acting like _Spider-Man, superhero,_ and not _Peter Parker, teenager._ His enhanced hearing picked out the sound of an explosion above, then angry, frustrated shouting. The _Burning Bridges protocol_ was clearly doing its job. Aggressive footsteps started banging down the stairs. Peter pushed open the door to a nearby bathroom and ceiling-crawled in.

He was met by the sound of a quiet exclamation of surprised terror. Peter nearly let out a matching one. There wasn't meant to be anyone on this floor. He crawled over towards a locked stall, where the sound came from. He looked down. Eyes met, both faces jumping with shock. Below him, sat on a toilet lid, with his mouth hanging open, was none other than Flash Thompson.

"What the f…" Flash muttered, gazing up at Peter. Peter shared that sentiment.

"What are you doing here!? How!? Everyone went up in the lift!"

"What!? What's going on? Are those explosions that keep going off? How are you on the ceiling?"

"Ah, sh… shoot," Peter muttered to himself. He'd momentarily forgotten his unusual location.

"Wait, no…?" Flash asked, coming to a realisation he couldn't quite believe, "You're not… you can't be…?" Peter raised his eyebrows, then sighed.

"Spider-Man? Yep." Flash gazed at him, gobsmacked. "It's a long story, one we don't have time to go into now. If you're aren't aware, there's gunmen in the building." Flash's face paled further, but for once he seemed to be lost for words.

"FRIDAY," Peter addressed the ceiling, "Why didn't you tell me Flash was still on this floor?" There was no reply. "FRIDAY?"

 

Peter took out his phone, and tried messaging FRIDAY instead.

_Friday!?_

 

**Peter! What's going on? My sensors don't seem to be able to pick you up in your current location**

_I'm in the bathroom_

**My sensors for that bathroom appear to have been offline for the past fortnight. For some reason, a security response wasn't triggered**

 

Well, that explained why FRIDAY hadn't known about Flash. But why were her sensors off? Peter looked around the room. There was a small pile of cigarette butts in one corner. Peter had the sneaking suspicion that a wayward Stark Industries employee may have disabled FRIDAY in this bathroom, in order to be able to have sneaky cigarette breaks. Peter was going to have to have a word with Mr Stark about his employees.

_Yes, well, you missed the fact that Flash was in here. So there goes my secret identity_

**Flash?**

_Eugene Thompson_

**My records indicate that Mr Thompson left the tour group shortly before the incursion. I must have lost track of him when I was momentarily offline during the power cut. My apologies Peter. That should not have happened. I should not have let that happen**

_Don't stress about it Friday. What's happened has happened_

 

 _"_ Oi, Parker!" Flash had clearly regained his voice, "What's going on? If you're Spider-Man, why aren't you, you know, Spider-Manning? Getting us out of here!? You said that there's gunmen!?"

"Yes. They're trying to get into the mainframe. I had FRIDAY block the way up to the central databanks once the rest of the group were safely up to Mr Stark's penthouse."

"They're all in Tony Stark's penthouse!?" Flash asked, in awe.

"Yes, and you would be too, if you weren't hiding down here for whatever reason. What were you doing in here?"

"I… I snuck off for a look around on my own," Flash reluctantly admitted. "That tour sucked. I thought Stark Tower would be a lot more interesting. Where _do_ you normally work? Is it as boring as the floors we looked at?" Peter paused nervously, not replying.

"Wait…" Flash started, "Are you telling me that your internship is made up? I knew it!"

"Dude! Being Spider-Man is the _internship!"_

"Oh! Right." He paused to think. "But you're not _technically_ an intern here, right?"

"Well, I guess…"

"So I was right! Ha! Suck it Penis!"

"Flash, you just found out that rather than being an intern, I'm a _superhero,_ and you still call me _Penis_?"

"Don't get your spandex in a twist! Just because I was right! Speaking of, why aren't you wearing your suit? Surely you need to get out there and, you know, superhero the sh** out of this situation?"

"I don't have the suit."

"What do you mean you don't have the suit?"

"I left it at home."

"You left it at home! This is why people call you Penis! You're meant to be a superhero, and yet you still suck."

"It's only you that calls me Penis, Flash."

"Yeah, well, it seems the name suits you."

 

Before Peter had a chance to retort, his phone lit up. It was another message from FRIDAY.

**Peter, half the intruders are heading back down. I'm concerned that they are going to look for hostages, in the hope they can force someone to let them into the system. I haven't managed to evacuate everyone yet.**

Peter's mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. He needed to try and distract the intruders. Keep them busy, and hope back-up came to deal with them soon.

 

"Stay here!" He instructed Flash.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm not really sure yet…" Peter replied, crawling along the ceiling and back out of the bathroom. He needed to get the attention of the intruders, to stop them going after the SI staff still in the building, but he didn't want to draw them here, and put Flash in danger. There was also the problem of what would happen to Peter once he did get their attention, but he wasn't really thinking that far forward in the plan yet.

He poked his head gingerly into the stairwell. His spidey-sense didn't trigger, meaning that it was safe for now at least. He ran down to the next floor, then took a large breath in. A large part of him told him that this was an atrocious idea. But he went with it anyway.

"Yo! Losers! How about you clear the hell out of here and leave us alone!?" he yelled down the staircase. For a second, he wasn't sure if they'd heard, but then there was a large amount of commotion from down below and his spidey-sense started going into overdrive. They'd heard alright.

He ran through the door onto the new floor, slamming it before anyone could follow him through, but soon hearing it being wrenched back open again. The distraction part of his plan seemed to be working. Now he just needed the under-developed not-getting-shot part. He raced down a corridor, knowing his pursuers weren't far behind. To either side were lots of disused conference rooms and offices. At random he dived into one. On the one hand, now he was probably trapped, but on the other, if luck went his way (but when did it ever?), it would take them a while to find where he was hiding, and hopefully help could arrive in the meantime. He twisted the lock shut on the back of the door. It wouldn't hold if they put any force into it, but at least it would give him a second or two of warning if they tried to enter the room.

He crawled along the ground, trying to stay out of eye-line from the frosted window in the door. There was another door at the other end of the room. He wasn't sure if it led to another room, or a cupboard, but it would be a good idea to find out. He creaked it open as quietly as possible and peeped round. At first he couldn't see anything, but as he opened it more and more light was able to stream in, he was able to make out that it was in fact a cupboard. He shrugged to himself and went in, closing the door behind him.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Without his enhanced vision, he probably still wouldn't have been able to make anything out, but the small amount of light trickling under the door allowed him to make out the shelves filled with boxes. Trying not to make a sound, he had a look (well, more of a feel), inside the boxes. They all seemed to contain stationary. He grabbed a few pencils. As weapons go, they were pretty far down the list, but he figured they were better than nothing. They were quite sharp, and he could always try stabbing his attackers with them if it came down to it.

He sat in silence, clutching his pencils for a few minutes. He considered taking his phone out to get an update from FRIDAY about what was happening, but didn't. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was instinct, he wasn't entirely sure. But he just sat in his cupboard, waiting for the intruders to find him, and possibly kill him. Then he heard the noise of rattling at the door to the conference room. He hoped that they would give up when they found it locked, but they didn't. He heard a force crash against the door a few times, then the sound of wood splintering and the door bursting open.

He clung to the ceiling at the back of the cupboard, as far from the door as possible, holding his breath and waiting. It wasn't long before there was the telltale creak of the handle being pushed door and the door pulled open. A man with a gun peered in, pointing his weapon into the empty space. Not thinking to look up, he saw that the floor of the cupboard was empty, and wrongly called out to his colleagues that the cupboard was clear. Peter was surprised the man couldn't hear the frantic beating of his heart as he walked back out and closed the door, leaving Peter alone in the darkness again. Peter waited until he heard the sound of retreating footsteps before he allowed himself to breathe a relieved sigh. He was safe. For now at least.

* * *

They were just wrapping up the mission when FRIDAY announced into Tony's ear that they had lost contact with the tower. Immediately Tony demanded that she find out what was going on. A large number of FRIDAY's servers were in the tower, so it was like she was missing a large part of herself and wasn't functioning at full capacity. But pretty quickly she managed to find preliminary reports that there was some kind of attack on Stark Tower taking place.

"We'll finish up here Tones," Rhodey told him when he updated them on the situation, "Go! We'll catch you up as soon as we can."

With that, Tony started the long flight back to New York. It was a good thing his suit held a lot of charge, because he'd already been doing a lot of flying today already. As the miles passed, more updates came in. Some form of militant group had attacked the tower. They hadn't been identified yet, but it would probably be Hydra. Tony just had the feeling. Two security guards had been shot, but were reported to be stable. Some of the staff had been evacuated. No one was entirely sure what was going on inside. What were the intruders after? Was this a hostage situation? An attack on Stark Industries? A (not very well planned) attack on Tony? Were they after his inventions? His suits?

He had a short phone conversation with Pepper. Tony was glad to hear she wasn't there; she wasn't meant to be, but knowing Tony's luck, she might have been called in for a meeting or something. But she wasn't, she was safe, and trying to deal with the press, and get a hold on the situation.

"We're still trying to figure out how many people are still in there," she told him, flipping through wads of paper as they spoke, "according to this, there's a tour group of school children in there! Oh…" She paused. And it wasn't just a pause to say that she was upset about the idea of children being trapped in a building with gunmen. It was more than that.

"What!?" Tony asked, worried.

"The school group's from Midtown…" They both knew what she meant by that. Peter went to Midtown. Pepper knew how fond Tony was of Peter, even if the man himself would strongly deny that. But it was a big school, Tony reasoned with himself. It was unlikely Peter would be there. Surely he'd have mentioned it if he was off? Why would he want to go on a school trip to the tower, he'd already been!? If he'd wanted a tour, he could have had one from Tony Stark himself.

There was a few seconds of silence, just the sound of paper being wafted through. Then Pepper spoke again.

"It's Peter's class." She paused, before quickly trying to reassure him, "I'm sure they'll be fine!"

"Yes," Tony answered, but he didn't sound sure.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I have to go," Pepper told him, "There's people hear I need to go speak to. Let me know if you find out anything."

"Yes, same," Tony agreed, understanding, but slightly sad. Despite what she was telling him, he felt better when he was talking to her. Less alone, flying through the air in his metal suit. "I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

As Tony approached the tower, he saw the chaos of press, and police, and onlookers surrounding the tower. He didn't land amongst them, instead coming down on his personal balcony on the top floor. The police were already storming the lower floors (after spending who knows how long doing seemingly nothing), and he would attack from the top. He managed to get FRIDAY to open the shielding protecting the doors, so he could enter his penthouse. What he saw inside is not what he was expecting. A crowd of worried (but seemingly unharmed) teenagers were sat around on his furniture.

"What are you doing here!?" he asked, his surprise probably making it sound more aggressive than he intended.

"Your A.I. told us to come up here," one of them replied timidly. That wasn't right. FRIDAY wouldn't invite them up. Only someone with sufficient clearance could allow people into the Avengers' half of the tower. _Peter._ He'd given Peter top clearance. Tony looked around. Where was he?

"Where's Peter?"

"We don't know," a kid replied, making eye contact. Sad eye contact. Tony recognised him. It was Peter's friend, Ned. "He missed the lift." Ned gave Tony a look that suggested Peter "missing" the lift may have been intentional.

"Flash is missing too!" another kid added. Tony looked at him, surprised. _Flash_. Tony vaguely recalled that name. He was pretty sure he'd heard Peter mutter about Flash making comments questioning the validity of Peter's internship. Now they were both somewhere below them, in a tower filled with gunmen. Tony worried about what that meant.

 

"FRIDAY, do you know where Peter and… _Flash_ are?" He asked his A.I. He got two replies; one from his suit, and one from the building, as the two still weren't synced. It was hard to listen to both at the same time. "Building FRIDAY…" he clarified.

"My records indicate Mr Thompson is in a bathroom on the 67th floor, and Mr Parker is in a storage cupboard on the 66th," the voice in the ceiling announced. Tony began to walk towards the staircase, so he could fly down it. "I should also inform you that the _Burning Bridges protocol_ has been activated, so you will have to go outside in order to access the lower floors," FRIDAY added. Tony sighed. Again, clearly this must have been Peter's work, and it sounded like he was doing some kind of self-sacrificial play again. He really needed to have another word with him about that.

 

Tony flew back out of the balcony doors and down the building. FRIDAY lifted the shielding over the window, but he still had to blast the glass itself. He flew down the corridor. Maybe he should have gone looking for the Flash kid first, considering that he didn't have any superpowers or experience of situations anything like this (well, Tony presumed that was the case), but no, he was off to find Peter. FRIDAY hadn't specified if he was unharmed or not, and he couldn't bring himself to ask.

The floor appeared abandoned now, but there was evidence the intruders had been here previously. Tony's breath caught in his throat when he saw the ruined door of the room FRIDAY said Peter was in. His suit clanked slightly as he walked through the conference room, ignoring the chairs that had been roughly pushed aside, focusing on the door at the other end of the room. He held his breath before he turned the handle and creaked open the door, apprehensive about what he would find on the other side.

At first he almost made the mistake the intruders made and assumed it was empty. But then he looked up. He saw Peter crouched in the top corner, looking on edge and uncomfortable, clutching a pair of pencils.

"Woah! It's just me. You're ok. Don't… I don't know, try and draw me to death!" Peter looked slightly annoyed by his joke, but lowered the pencils slightly. "Thank you!" Tony added, slightly sarcastically. "You armed with two pencils, practically deadly!"

"Well, technically three…" Peter muttered.

"What?" It was pretty dark, but Tony could only see Peter holding two pencils. He flipped the light switch by the door. Peter raised his arms to guard his sensitive eyes from the light, causing him to fall forward, landing in a messy crouch on floor.

"Oops, sorry kid…" Tony started, then stopped, his mouth hanging open in shock when he spotted the third pencil. Sticking out of Peter's thigh. "What the f…!?" Peter didn't lower his arms from his face, but could guess what Tony was referring to.

"Erm yeah, I might have fallen down earlier when I accidentally kicked a printer" [so that was what the smashed heap on the floor behind Peter was…] "and yeah, one of my pencils may have kind of ended up a little bit impaled in my leg…"

"A little bit!? It's right through!"

"Yeah, but my leg's pretty well healed though. In fact, I should have pulled the pencil out before. I know they say you shouldn't so I didn't, but now I think it might be healed into my leg."

"Urgh… gross! Well, let me get you somewhere safe, then I'll get someone to look at it and decide whether you're stuck as pencil boy once I've made sure everyone else is safe."

"No, don't waste time on me! I'm fine here! Go help everyone else!" Peter protested.

"Peter…" Tony started.

"If I may interject…" FRIDAY interjected, "it does appear now everyone else is well, safe. All staff have now been evacuated and the police are now in control of the situation regarding the gunmen. The rest of the staff managed to get out whilst you were distracting the intruders, Peter, and that allowed the police to storm the building without being concerned about putting civilians in danger. The rest of your class are safe in the penthouse, and though I still have no input from the room, as far as I'm aware Mr Thompson is still in the bathroom upstairs."

"Well, that settles it then!" Tony announced. "I'm sure your class will be fine waiting upstairs a bit longer. FRIDAY, make sure they don't touch my stuff, and I don't know, put on some cartoons for them or something. Let's get your leg seen to."

"What about Flash?"

"I don't know the kid, but it sounds like some time hiding alone in a bathroom might do him some good. And by the way, FRIDAY, what did you mean about having no input from the room?"

"Oh, you need to have a serious word with your employees…" Peter answered for him.

* * *

 

The next day at school, all anyone was talking about was how the tour group had got trapped in a hostage situation and ended up hiding out in Tony Stark's very own penthouse. Flash had agreed to keep quiet about Peter being Spider-Man, and in return, Peter agreed to not tell anyone Flash spent the whole time hiding in a bathroom, instead going with the slightly more dignified story that they were both hiding in stationary cupboards ( _separate_ stationary cupboards, Flash had been very quick to clarify; he didn't want to leave any opportunity for rumours about what might have happened if the two of them had been huddled in a stationary cupboard together).

Peter's leg was now de-pencilled and fully healed. Mr Stark had still insisted that he take another day off from patrolling, but at least he had invited Peter around to the tower after school, so Peter had that to look forwards to. He would have thought that Mr Stark would be too busy dealing with the aftermath of the tower attack to have time for him, but Tony just said that since the tower had been damaged in places (and had clearly demonstrated security flaws), he might as well re-do a lot of it, and claimed he wanted Peter's input on it. Yesterday Peter was being told all about the history of Stark Tower. Today he'd be helping influence the future of it. He had to admit, that was pretty cool!


End file.
